If you're too impatient to wait for Samsung to get Android 4.4 to your carrier variant of the Galaxy Note 3 (or if you're just tired of TouchWiz), the indefatigable boys and girls of CyanogenMod are here to help. They've just released the first nightly builds of CM 11 (KitKat) for Samsung's plus-sized flagship, with support for the international LTE model (N9005), plus Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint versions.

The CyanogenMod team is hard at work making the popular ROM more user-friendly and ready for the mainstream. After taking the wraps off its partnership with fledgling device maker OnePlus last week, CM is releasing its new gallery app to Google Play for beta testing. It is called (fittingly) GalleryNext.

Any HTC One owners who spend the day anxiously biting their nails in anticipation of the newest CyanogenMod nightly will be in for a surprise today. The popular ROM has unified several versions of the device under one heading. The AT&T, T-Mobile, and unlocked versions of the One are now on a single m7 ROM.

It's been almost exactly one month since the CyanogenMod team published its first build of Android 4.4 for Nexus devices, and now the second M or "snapshot" release is rolling out. This time CyanogenMod 11 is going out to a much wider subset of the officially-supported device list, with most of the big players in the Nexus, Galaxy S4, and HTC One lines getting M builds, among many others. You can check to see if your device has a CM11 M2 ROM available at the download page.

The Oppo N1 isn't a phone you'd expect to see sold in markets like the United States. It's eccentric and, frankly, kind of weird. A rear touchpad panel? A swiveling camera? A 5.9" display? Official CyanogenMod support from the factory? It has "niche" written all over it (not literally, but that would be kind of funny, I suppose). As such, the N1's appeal in western markets is likely to be limited to the enthusiast audience, an audience Android Police has long entertained.

All of the flagship Android devices from 2013 have been added to CyanogenMod in some form or another: the Galaxy S4, the HTC One, the LG G2, the Moto X, and of course, the Nexus 5. But there's one notable entry that has not graced the download page yet - Samsung's enormous and powerful Galaxy Note 3. According to an early-morning post from the custom ROM's official Google+ account, that's about to change.

Yes, CyanogenMod fans, there is a Santa Claus. Cyanogen Inc. announced early on Christmas Eve morning that the long-awaited Oppo N1 CyanogenMod Edition is now available on Oppo's web store. It costs the same $599 as the standard N1, but comes pre-loaded with CyanogenMod 10.2 (Android 4.3). You'll also get spiffy custom packaging, a CyanogenMod phone case (plus a standard case), the O-click remote shutter, and a few stickers to show your devotion.

If you're a fan of the CyanogenMod family of custom Android ROMs, then you're in extremely good company. According to CyanogenMod's official statistics page, the ROM and its derivatives are now running on just over 10 million Android phones and tablets. Those statistics come from CyanogenMod users who voluntarily report activity via the built-in CMStats function, so the actual number of devices could be higher. CyanogenMod's head honcho and Cyanogen Inc.

It's been a crazy few months for the team at Cyanogen Inc.. After announcing the partnership with Oppo, the new company cofounded by Steve Kondik and Koushik Dutta has released a CyanogenMod installer app, built a Google-approved ROM for the N1, and secured a mess of funding. Now there's a YouTube channel where you can follow the exploits of the CM crew, and it all starts with a demo of the Oppo N1 running the official CyanogenMod ROM.

It's officially official: the Oppo N1 is the first Google-approved CyanogenMod phone. After passing through Google's CTS (compatibility test suite), CDD (compatibility definition document), and CTS Verifier, the phone can legitimately run Google's suite of apps and have access to the Google Play Store. It is an undeniably big milestone for Cyanogen Inc., who hope to release a true "CyanogenMod" phone at some point, with the "highest quality hardware available" through a partnership with an as-yet unannounced firm.